David is a brilliant perfomer and (more importantly) a wonderful person. I'm really looking forward to the book. Can you give us an estimated date of publication?

I'm intrigued by your comment "there is only one method for "The Berglas Effect," which is David's method. There are a million ways to do "Any Card at Any Number."

In what way do you think that "The Berglas Effect" is different from "Any Card at Any Number". What makes "The Berglas Effect" unique?

You also say that "there is only one method for the "Berglas Effect", which is David's method". This is really intriguing! I always thought that there were many methods according to the performing conditions. Are you suggesting that there is a definitive "core" method?

Richard, you've made it clear that it will take a while to be ready to properly perform the effect. Will the book provide sufficient detailing on how to do it? Is it something we will need to research a lot for outside of the book, or does the book provide enough that with time and practice, we will be able to pull off the effect?

The first DVD is a contemporary interview with David conducted by Marc Paul. It covers David's life in show business, including film clips of him performing on various TV shows. He performs several card effects for Marc toward the end, and it concludes with an interactive card trick.

The second DVD is "Vintage Berglas," a collection of footage of David performing card magic and more from the 1980s. It will also include a pdf file of David's issue of Genii.

The third DVD is all newly shot material, including a show (entirely cards) David gave in June, plus many additional performances of card effects and explanations.

Each DVD will be two hours.

You will see David perform both Any Card at Any Number as well as The Berglas Effect. And they are described in the book as well.

The book should be between 300 and 400 pages (8.5 x 11). Earle Oakes has already done most of the illustrations.

There will also be a pair of 3D glasses included for something in the book (as well as for viewing the 3D portions of the Genii issue).

I am going to try and keep the price to $100 for the book and 3 DVD set. I think it's a very good price. You'll have to purchase the book directly from me (which is how I can keep the price that low). If I wholesale the book, the retail price would have to be $200. I don't see much point in that. I'll probably ask for an additional charge for Priority Mail, so all books can be shipped safely in a sturdy box and received within a few days. Hopefully this will prevent banged corners and lost books.

There will be a deluxe edition (I'm hoping in leather and in a slipcase) limited to 100 copies, signed by David, and which will include some pieces of memorabilia from his life in show business. No price yet.

I have to admit I also fell into that camp of disappointed neophytes on reading the description in The Mind & Magic of David Berglas. Giving David Britland his due on a lucid mammoth of a book, I think I'd naievely set myself up to read complete step-by-step instructions on creating "the perfect effect". However, I was interested to read, "it's all in there if you look hard enough" and that prompted me to re-read that last bit of the book.

I might have misinterpretted this but it seems that Berglas does indeed have a general strategy to create the perfect effect, as Britland refers to "good cards" being named in the course of a larger routine. From what I understand from the bit on the selection of number and from hearing other people describe his performance, I imagine that 'good cards' are cards which fall closest to either end of the stack, as "a number" can then be named (please forgive me for trying to be both cryptic and explicit) which is likely to be very close to the position of these cards on considering the pack three dimensionally. The bit on having the spectator re-order the cards (you know what I mean) would suggest that you could account for all four suits within this range of selection, as the inside becomes outside. (crikey, this is sounding alot more complicated than it is!)

This got me thinking, as one choice indirectly affects the other. If we forget the suit of the named card (because this becomes irrelevant due to the afore-alluded-to subtelty) and think of it as a choice of two numbers, the second choice is naturally influenced by the first. For example, if I named the number 7, my second choice would probably be 3 and, in fact, any two choices are likely to hover around either end of the range of selection, which is elegantly mirrored by the stack; so the perfect effect (or one that is very similar) becomes within reach of being 'surefire' on considering a few of the other subtleties, without seeming to limit either choice in any way.

Having a set-up that will give you the best chance of hitting without any intervention seems to require more ingenuigty and experience than I can ever muster (and I appreciate I'm a deluded skintflint for imagining I can purchase said qualities for $100) so, what I'm particularly interested in is the specific stack and outs Berglas uses for numbers to achieve this (such as the example given in Mind & Magic). Unless I'm completely wrong, I believe this would give most of us muggles a chance to create this effect, albeit perhaps not as splendidly as Mr Berglas.

Trying my best to sound like I'm not fishing: will this be in your book? ;)

I have finished the book except for one trick and one chapter. There are various small details to be added throughout, and I have to go over all the text with David to make sure that everything is correct.

We've run into a big bump in the cost of producing the three DVDs that will double their production cost, but I'll probably absorb this and keep the price as stated at $100. Or it might be $110. Either way, for an oversized 350 to 400 page hardcover book that also includes 3 DVDs, it's a bargain. Earle Oakes has been drawing the illustrations at the same time I've been writing, so they are mostly finished. My wife has the biggest job at this point, which is editing the DVDs.

Oli, yes, I think whatever you're writing about is in the book, but your writing is a bit cryptic.

For the deluxe edition, I'm contemplating putting either a fourth DVD or the write-up of a trick that's not in the regular edition of the book, or both, which would be exclusive to those 100 deluxe copies.

With things moving along briskly toward a conclusion in all areas, the book will probably go to the printer by January and be shipped in late February or March. I may start taking pre-publication orders for the deluxe edition in the next few weeks.